Agricultural implements, such as planters and seed dispensers, typically include a system of conduits through which a dispensed product, such as seed, is distributed. In addition, a pressurized fluid, such as air, also moves through the system of conduits to move the product. A number of designs currently exist for moving the product to different locations on an agricultural implement using the pressurized fluid. However, most current designs use a fan or blower assembly to provide a large volume of the pressurized fluid at a low pressure. The pressurized fluid moves a relatively low volume of the dispensed product, and therefore, considering the power input requirements of blower assemblies, current designs are relatively inefficient.
In addition, effective agricultural implements accommodate different types of dispensed products, such as seeds of different shape or size. Different types of dispensed products, however, may be better suited to different operating characteristics, such as pressurized fluid flow rate and pressure. For example, a certain type of seed may require increased fluid pressure to move through system conduits due to relatively high friction of the seed within the system conduits. As another example, another type of seed may have a relatively high resistance to airflow due to the shape of the seed. Some current designs can physically accommodate different types of dispensed products while the products are stationary. However, current designs cannot effectively move different types of dispensed products because the operating characteristics of the systems cannot be adjusted.
Further still, many agricultural implements include assemblies or components that have different pressure requirements from the pressurized fluid supplied from, for example, the blower assembly. As a result, some current designs include multiple pressure sources that supply pressurized fluid to individual assemblies or components. Multiple pressure sources, however, add to the overall cost of the agricultural implement.
Considering the limitations of previous agricultural implements, an efficient and inexpensive system is needed in which a pressurized fluid may be supplied to one or more assemblies.